An Understanding
by thekatthatbarks
Summary: Sasuke's paranoia leads to a misunderstanding and it takes him a while to see what's right in front of him.


"For the hundredth time, I'm not your babysitter!" Naruto rolled his eyes with his arms folded behind his head as he walked with Sasuke through the village.

Sasuke glared at him and made a little _huff_. He gestured a hand at him annoyed. "Then, what do you call what you're doing right now?"

Naruto gave him a confused look. He raised an eyebrow. "Walking with you to the training grounds so we can spar?"

"Well, why are you always insisting I train with you?"

Naruto chuckled, a little amused by Sasuke's suspicion. He had no idea why he thought Naruto was _spying_ on him or something. But it was always fun to see him get all worked up about it. "Do you want to train with someone else? I thought you said me and Sakura-chan were the only ones you felt gave you a challenge. Well, I guess Shikamaru would be – but you'd have to get him –"

Sasuke interrupted him with a frustrated sigh, " _No_ , dobe. That's not what I meant."

Naruto watched as he gritted his teeth and turned around a corner. He waited for Sasuke to elaborate but he never did. He actually didn't say anything at all, like he was pretending Naruto wasn't there as they walked. _Which just started to piss Naruto off…_

They were near Training Ground 4 now and Sasuke still wasn't talking to him. He'd even shrugged his arm away when Naruto put his hand on his shoulder. Annoyed at being ignored, Naruto asked him with an edge to his voice, "Then, what _did_ you mean, teme? I don't know why the hell you've got it in your mind that I'm _spying_ on you –"

Sasuke stopped walking and turned on him angrily. "Then, why am I never left alone!? Does the Hokage still not trust me? I've done everything I can to prove that my loyalty is with Konoha for good. I get that I'm not liked – _hated_ and frankly I could care less. But I never get sent out on solo missions. I'm always assigned with you or the other way around. You always come to my house and drag me out to eat with you or to train. Does she have you watching me like a dog?"

"Sasuke, it's not like that –" Naruto tried to stop the ongoing rant and gave Sasuke an anxious smile, but Sasuke just talked over him.

"And it's not just her, is it? It's the council, too. Maybe it was their idea to begin with. What are they scared of? That I'll have a breakdown and revert back to that psychopath I was with Orochimaru? That I'll destroy the village? Having it be you, that was smart. You're the only one who could control me and a good friend. Is that what this is, Naruto?"

Naruto's smile dropped and he felt his body tense. His mouth set in a hard line and his eyes bored into Sasuke's. He knew this was all just Sasuke being paranoid and not able to believe that people had forgiven him. Naruto wasn't naïve enough to believe _everyone_ had, but Sasuke acted like _no one_ had. Not even him. He'd fooled himself into thinking they had some sort of _understanding_. That he could be wrong hurt more than he had expected.

"That's what you think, Sasuke?" Naruto asked him and saw something flash across Sasuke's eyes but he couldn't catch it. He didn't answer right away and Naruto looked away from him with a shake of his head. "You're an idiot."

He didn't wait for Sasuke's reaction before turning and walking away for him. They both knew Sasuke could have called after him if he wanted to. He didn't.

-  
"You and Naruto having another lovers' spat?" Sasuke heard Sakura approach as he was practicing taijutsu with his new arm on a wooden post. If he hit the post a little harder than necessary at her question, she didn't comment.

"I don't know why he walked off sulking," Sasuke bit out with another strike. It was annoying, but he _didn't_. Well, maybe accusing Naruto of being a spy for Tsunade wasn't… _a good start on the morning_. But he knew that wasn't exactly it, either. There was something in Naruto's eyes when he stalked off, something deeper. He'd been mulling over it for hours, unable to get the blonde idiot out of his head, but hadn't come up with anything.

Sakura was quiet for a moment and it set his nerves even more on edge. If Sakura was ever quiet, it was usually because she was analyzing something. He hated it when that something was _him_. She'd gotten over her childhood crush of him years ago and they'd become better friends, so that wasn't why it made him uncomfortable. For some reason, ever since the war, she'd been able to see right through him. He knew she did, just by the look in her eyes, her knowing smile. But she never said anything, which just added to his frustration.

Eventually, she offered, "Want to practice with something that might hit back?"

Sasuke turned to her and saw her excited smile as she pulled on her gloves. He couldn't help but give her a soft smile back – though she'd never call it that, saying it was an _annoying smirk_ \- and simply slipped into a defensive stance.

Sakura was fast, but he was faster and it was the only way he was able to avoid her deadly and scarily precise hits. It became like a game of cat and mouse as she tried to land a hit on him while he just stayed on the defensive and steadily avoided her. At some point though, she stopped and told him a little breathless, "If you're too scared to try and get close enough to attack me, we might as well just do taijutsu. No chakra, so you don't have to worry."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her teasing smirk and moved towards her to land a kick. She blocked it and aimed her fist at his arm. He managed to avoid it and the spar went on just the same. Just a few landed hits here and there, but they were both able to read each other enough to block most attacks.

He couldn't help but ask after a while, "How'd you know Naruto was mad?"

She didn't pause in the fight and answered, "Saw him walking around with that angrily upset look on his face." Another hit. "Asked him what was wrong and he just called you a bastard and an idiot before walking away." A kick. "And here I am."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in irritation at being called an idiot, but he focused more on the sinking feeling in his stomach because Naruto was still upset. He remembered how Naruto's smile had fell and how his face had flared up like it always did before he cussed Sasuke's ear off. But he had barely said a word, before all Sasuke could see was his back walking away from him. He felt a sharp pain in his chest at the memory.

The brief distraction of Naruto earned him a kick in the stomach and he fell to the ground with a hard thud. Sakura panted as she looked down at him. Her eyebrows pulled together and she asked him with a shrug, "What'd you do, anyway?"

He hesitated before telling her what he had told Naruto that morning. That sinking feeling got even worse as Sakura's face became livid. She yanked him up with her chakra and Sasuke felt like she'd almost pulled his arm out of its socket. Then, she pinched his ear angrily and yelled, "You _are_ an idiot!"

What he hadn't expected her to do next was drag him to the Hokage's office, _interrupt a meeting_ , and ask Tsunade to _"_ _please explain to dear Sasuke-kun here that you are_ not _using Naruto as a spy on him and that he is as much of, if not more than, a moron as Naruto."_ , but she did. To make the situation even more mortifying, Tsunade had looked at him bewildered and for the third time today, he was told _you're an idiot_.

-  
Sasuke felt ridiculous with a creeping anxiety crawling up inside of him as he stood in front of Naruto's door. The air was cold and the night was quiet besides the soft sounds of Naruto moving around in his apartment behind the door. The smell of the steaming ramen from his hands was clinging to his nostrils and twisted his stomach. But it had nothing on how he felt when Naruto opened the door with barely hidden surprise. He cocked an eyebrow at him. "Sasuke? What're you doing here?"

Sasuke didn't look at him as held up the bag of takeout. "The old man said you hadn't stopped by all day. Figured you had to be starving by now."

He glanced at Naruto's face to see a hint of a smile. His relief stopped short when Naruto took the bag with a small thanks and was about to close the door. Sasuke stuck his foot out without thinking in a panic that even he didn't fully understand himself. He felt his heart speed up the slightest second. "You're not going to invite me inside?"

Naruto stared at him for a second before simply widening the door and walking back into his apartment. Sasuke followed him in and kicked off his shoes. He was glad that Naruto had moved out of that sorry excuse for an apartment he'd had as a child and into a nicer building. It had the same layout but was more suited for two people than one. The living area was bigger with enough room to hold as many people as Naruto wanted, which suited him knowing how sociable he was.

Sasuke joined him at his small table as Naruto asked him without looking at him, "I thought you wanted to be alone?"

Sasuke sighed as Naruto avoided his eyes and took out the packaged-up ramen from the bag. That Sasuke had never been good with words or emotions was an understatement. That was Naruto, always had been Naruto. If their roles were reversed and he'd been the one to put his foot in his mouth – as Sakura had put it – then he'd know what to say. It wasn't their first argument and it surely wouldn't be their last, but he still didn't know how to go about it. _Could you even call it an argument?_ Usually, they would just have a spar to take their frustrations out on each other. But Sasuke had a feeling that wouldn't be enough this time.

"I know you're not spying on me," he told him trying to sound apologetic, but he could hear some of his own frustration showing through in his voice.

The silence that followed was heavy in the room and Sasuke longed for yesterday, when everything was _normal_. Naruto glanced at him and then looked to the side as if he was debating something. Before he could reply, Sasuke added in a defeated but honest tone, "I'm sorry."

Naruto's eyes widened the slightest fraction as he met Sasuke's and then his face softened with that goofy grin of his. "You need to stop with all that paranoid crap, Sasuke, or you'll never trust anyone."

Sasuke wanted to tell him that he trusted _him_ , but he couldn't find the words and just laid on his back looking up at Naruto beside him. "I'll work on it."

That was good enough for Naruto, though, to Sasuke's relief. His shoulders relaxed and he started rambling on about how he'd stopped by the academy to see the kids. Sasuke wasn't surprised when Naruto told him with an embarrassed but proud smile that the kids were excited to see them. The whole village adored Naruto, how could they not? It made Sasuke's mind drift to when Naruto would finally be Hokage. Because there was no _if_ about it anymore, just _when_. He wondered if he would still see him so often.

Naruto's story tampered off into comments that didn't even seem like they were directed at Sasuke. Sasuke looked over at him, his eyes shining bright with that wide smile of his. He felt warm looking at him and he felt a sense of emptiness that he might slip away from his life little by little.

"You spend all of your free time with me," he stated more than asked. He knew he did. It made him wonder if Naruto had his priorities straight. He should be off doing things like he did today; teaching children, shadowing Tsunade, _getting ready to be Hokage_. Not hanging around an outcast like Sasuke.

Naruto's smile faded a bit, but it was still there. He didn't look to Sasuke as he replied, "I do."

There was something about his voice or maybe it was the way he said it. It sounded warm and tender and it made Sasuke's heart skip a beat. When Naruto finally met his eyes, he noticed his cheeks had turned slightly pink. Sasuke didn't know what it was, maybe it was the honesty in his eyes or the nervous smile, but it all seemed to slowly _click_.

He couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped. _He was an idiot._

Naruto's smile dropped and he glared at him. "What's with that smirk on your face, teme?"

Sasuke simply reached up and grabbed the front of Naruto's shirt, pulling his head down to him. He could tell that Naruto was surprised, his mouth was still and his lips chapped. But it only lasted a second, before he relaxed and Sasuke felt himself being kissed back. It made him feel warm and _full_.

It only lasted a moment and when Naruto pulled away, he had this nervous but excited smile on his face. "So, we do have an understanding?"

Sasuke smiled back at him and he was sure even Sakura couldn't call it a smirk. "Yes, dobe, we have an _understanding_."


End file.
